


Te Amo y Más

by Oboeist3



Category: The Underland Chronicles - Suzanne Collins
Genre: (this got really serious really fast and i'm sorry), F/M, drunk!Gregor being oddly philosophical, probably not canon-compliant, tuc fic exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-20
Updated: 2014-12-20
Packaged: 2018-03-02 13:19:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2813387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oboeist3/pseuds/Oboeist3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It's useless to hold a person to anything he says while he's in love or drunk." -Shirley MacLaine </p><p>(My contribution to the TUC fic exchange. Prompt #1, Drunk!Gluxa. I am deeply sorry about the lack of cheesy pickup lines.  Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy it imaax!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Te Amo y Más

**Author's Note:**

  * For [imaax](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=imaax).



Gregor was standing in the Regalian museum, a kinder name given to the room filled with Overland junk that had fallen unwittingly into a perilous new reality. 'Just like me.' he remarked, spinning the wheely thing on on beat up old sewing machine. Although it was hardly new to him. After three catastrophe laden prophecies and a mother still recovering from the ominously named Curse of Warmbloods, the Underland had ceased to be something 'other' to Gregor. The Underland was as much a part of his life as his left arm, and just as devastating if it were taken from him.

Boots, (and to a lesser extent his other family members), had also fastened ties to their underground companions. Mrs.Cormaci always sent him down with food for Ripred, Lizzie forced him to work futilely on his echolocation, even his father asked him to give his regards to Vikus or Ares. But Gregor knew no amount of connections, no increasingly complex network of relations would change his mother's mind. As soon as she was well, they were off to Virginia, never to see another sign of the Underland again.

He sighed and tried his best not to let the worries of tomorrow block out what was happening now. He was an another antique run, and a fresh one at that. Items he had previously glanced over were now being carefully looked over, picked for anything that might be valuable. There was no shortage of stuff, even after his excursions, so it might take a while.

Gregor's eyes skimmed over the room a few times before noticing the lines of bottles on one of the higher shelves. Some of them looked pretty old, maybe they'd be worth something? He was sure there was someone who collected things like that. However, upon getting closer to the bottles, he realized they were much too high for him to reach, even on his tiptoes.

In theory, he could just ask one of the guards to help him retrieve them, but that would be embarrassing. The great warrior, not even able to reach some bottles. He had a shaky enough image as it was, after what happened with the Bane. No, he'd have to do it himself.

Gregor recalled a stepladder near the door he sometimes used as a doorstop when the items were big. It wasn't very tall, but maybe it would be enough. He walked back over and retrieved the ladder, grumbling as some of the rust chafed his hands, but managed to get it decently close to the shelf.

He brushed off the remaining rust on his jeans and cautiously stepped up on the rickety ladder, waiting for it to settle as he kept his balance. Carefully he leaned towards the shelf, his fingers reaching, almost there, almost....

'Gotcha!' he wanted to cry as his fingers curled around the bottle neck, but he was too busy falling, as the stepladder had collapsed under him. The decades old liquid sloshed out of the bottle and naturally poured right into Gregor's gaping mouth.

Now had this liquid been any other product, like perfume, or even a mild poison, Gregor would have been fine. However he had the typical misfortune of the clumsy and prophecy-ridden, and so it happened that the warrior, savior of the Underland thrice over, had ingested half a bottle of 1920's best speakeasy brew, which was about as close to pure alcohol as one could get without dying.

It didn't take long for the world to start spinning like a top or one of those old cartoon title pieces. He stumbled over to a table, his fingers gripping it tightly before he slunk to the floor. 'Maybe I can just sleep it off.' he thought, before his consciousness to desert him.

* * *

Luxa was worried. This was an uncommon event, being the young Queen of the relatively small human population in the Underland, constantly on the verge of - or actively involved in - a war with the gnawers. But she wasn't worried about her citizens at the moment, or at least, no more than usual.

She was worried about Gregor.

He had failed to come to training that day, which wasn't so unusual in and of itself, but neither Ares nor his mother had seen him either. The only person who seemed to have seen the Overlander was the head of the guards, who told Luxa he was down in the museum, and had yet to return.

She stormed down with every intention of chewing him out, what kind of example was this setting, but slowed down when she heard the faint echo of music coming from the behind the rare wooden door. It wasn't like the usual things Gregor played, certainly not a saxophone. No this sounded more like a stringed instrument, and the tone was entirely different.

'Te amo y más....'

Luxa pushed aside the odd feeling and pushed open the doors. Inside, she could see the music was coming from an Overland device Gregor had called "retro." What was it? A record....something. It didn't matter, certainly not compared to the fact that Gregor was sprawled out on the floor next to it.

"Gregor! Are you alright?" she asked, rushing over to look for injuries but thankfully finding nothing.

The young teen blinked open his eyes at her and looked confused for a second, before shifting into a much too large grin.

"Heya Luxa. How's it goin'?" he said as he propped himself up on his elbows. His breath stunk worse than Ripred on a good day, and he seemed off, like he wasn't really looking at her.

"You missed training." she said accusingly, her eyes narrowed into a sharp glare. Normally this would elicit a slight cowering from Gregor, but now he seemed barely able to process the information, taking several moments before replying.

"Oh yea. Sorry about that." he said, with a decidedly unapologetic tone. "I was jussh tryin' to reach this bottle here and 'ell down and things started to get rreeal blurry, so I figured I'd wait 'till that stopped. But it was too quiet, so I put on some music by that Luuna guy. What kind of last name ish Luna anyway?" His words were slurred together and generally incoherent, and suddenly Luxa knew.

"Are you _drunk?_ " she said, horrified. She didn't have much experience with drunkenness, alcohol wasn't easy to make underground, but she'd been at enough council meetings and among military members long enough to see the signs.

Gregor just shrugged. "Probably. But it's not my fault! That stupid stepladder broke!" he said, pointing to it, and it did seem to be pretty wrecked.

Luxa didn't care though. Gregor had yet again proved he was irresponsible and childish. How could he possibly be so foolish to use a death trap like that? It was probably his pride, acting like he was the hero, when she'd had to save his ass more often than anyone would like.

"Come on." she said, pulling him up roughly, her fingers curled around his wrist. "I'm taking you to the hospital so you don't hurt yourself." (As he was often opt to do.) At first, he simply let her drag him, but then stopped abruptly.

"Oh, this is my favorite part! In the movie, the guy is just about to reach the girl when it all comes crashing down. Literally!" he said, bursting out into a strange laughter similar to that in the Vineyard of Eyes not so long ago. Suddenly, he stopped.

"Though, he really does love her. Despite everything being against him, the town, his best friend, the gods themselves, he always manages to come back to her. Sappy, but kind of amazing huh? Like a fairy tale."

Luxa found herself interested despite herself. "It is." she said. In the Underland, they didn't usually have stories with endings like that. Underland tales were like that of the world itself, bittersweet. She hadn't heard a proper story like that since she was very young.

"Do you think it's possible?" asked Gregor, looking at her in a way that sent shivers up her spine. He looked so serious, so completely bare. Like all of those outer layers of him had been peeled off, leaving only this. "To love someone that much?"

"I don't know." she admitted. She hadn't much experience with love. There was Vikus and Solovet, but they'd always been an oddity. It didn't help that she'd never really paid attention to that sort of stuff. She didn't have the time to worry about boys, with what she had to grow up to be.

"I do. I think it happens a lot, but people get scared. It's easier, in a way, to pretend it's an oddity." he said, in the same way Vikus always did talking about peace, like he'd seen it all firsthand.

"Have you ever been in love like that?" she asked, not knowing why. What could it possibly matter, in the days ahead, with the words on the wall he didn't yet know?

"I don't know." he said with a shrug, his eyes looking down at the ground. "I'll tell you when I stop being scared."


End file.
